


The Cecaelia

by Cherin



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Amu is a cinnamon roll, M/M, NO OC'S, Puzzleshipping, Yugi is prone to panic, also joey's the best friend, and a seamonkey, any suggestions would be very nice, half octopus half human, hope that isn't confusing, i think i wanna put a wendigo in it too, more mythical creatures to come, more pairings later on, octopi's 'tentacles' are actually called arms, tea is trying to be a good friend, the 'corrected' version of the one that's on fanfiction, the waterstagkelpie is the most horrible one, trying to take out the mistakes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-09-27 01:35:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9944519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cherin/pseuds/Cherin
Summary: When Yugi finds a strange creature out on the beach, he has yet no idea how it might influence his life.





	1. Small friend

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or anything else except the plot. This story is written for the pure amusement of other people and I do not obtain money because of it. This is for the entire story, so I will not repeat it in other chapters. Thank you for understanding.  
> Oh, and next chapter will definitely be longer! Promise!

Yugi groaned as he stretched, standing on a stray rock that popped out above the wet, sandy gravel. He was walking around the shores of a particular beach. This part was covered with little gravel stones for the most part instead of sand, this was because the 'beach', as to say, was actually a big and deep loch, connected to the sea. It also had a few side lochs on its own, and there were small islands all over. A few days ago, Yugi had been in the big city, away from here, visiting his grandfather's grave. He used to love it there, when he could visit grandpa, and talk about all kinds of awesome things... His grandpapie was a very awesome old little man. Now traveling to there was just tiring him out, physically ànd mentally.

 

Yugi blew his hot breath onto his half-gloved hands, the condensed release of his breath visible in the chilled air. His fingertips were freezing! How he wished he had worn a thicker pair of clothes...

It was near the end of summer, but even then it was cold, and it didn't get hotter than 22 degrees Fahrenheit in winter…

 

In a week or two, school was going to ask his attention too. He rather went to go swim, snorkel and treasure hunt for things on the bottom of the shallow water. He never went very deep anymore. Never. The sea, although intriguing him and pulling him closer with its unknown and unexplored areas, could never be truly trusted. He once did as a kid, and nearly drowned. He couldn't remember it all too well, but sometimes, he'd have nightmares about it…

 

Winter was coming again... And the ocean would freeze up. Just like before. Yugi wondered if he could go ice-skating this year... It had been such a l o ng time since he'd done that, mainly because of what happened…

 

Last year he didn't dare to risk it, because it wasn't cold enough for thick ice to form, but this year, maybe there'd be a chance. He wanted to enjoy the things he and his grandfather used to do together, so many years ago... That was why he came to live here. In a house, a good mile away from the town, close onto one of the shores. There was a small, natural bridge to a huge peninsula close by, which disappeared when the water rose. (The bridge of course not the island.)

Though he didn't live with anybody else, simply because his grandpapie was the last of his family, didn't mean he ever felt truly alone.

 

It was as if his grandfather's spirit was still lingering around here.

Most memories from this place were good, so he wanted to be here. He didn't feel so alone that way. Yet, maybe, very maybe, he was looking for something... Someone... A friend that would stand by his side...

"Squea..."

What... was that hoarse, high-pitched sound?

 

Yugi looked around and shivered a bit.

Did someone follow him?

 

He turned round to look behind him, but concluded after scanning the area, that he was alone except for a few birds flying around the beach. He walked on, burying his hands in his pockets. Cold shivers ran down his spine as he remembered some creepy tales about water creatures, such as kelpies and sirens. But those didn't exist. It was impossible... Maybe there was some big sea horse swimming in the depths of the unexplored sea, yes, but myths of ancient times? No. Simply impossible.

Yugi stopped as if he had heard some evil foreshadowing just a second ago. Attentively, he looked around and listened to his surroundings very, very closely.

 

"Squ-Squak! Squii!"

 

It sounded like a dog's toy. It had to be an animal. But what animal would make a sound like that? Almost crying out for help? Yugi looked around again and followed the direction of the sound. He didn't know what to expect really. He noticed a few gulls flying around rather closely, their beady eyes looking if there was something to be snatched away from him. The seabirds would do anything.

 

As the sound became louder, he began to slow down. He looked around his feet, and a few meters further when... Something was laying there in the sand, crying as it wriggled around. Some gulls flew down, crying out loud as other gulls nearly clashed against each other as they all tried to get it.

It couldn’t be a fish. Yugi couldn’t think of any fish that would make such a sound. Not one single fishy!

 

Said thing squeaked again as a gull managed to grasp it, but another attacked and it let it fall down again. That was when Yugi thought he saw… No…

 

What in the name of...? What w a s that? He walked up to the thingy before he heard it was, in Ra's name, wheezing! The gulls angrily moved away, squawking at Yugi with mouths wide open and wings flapping. Yugi intimidated their behaviour to scare them away, but when he wanted to yell, all that came out was a little “Eeeep!”

 

Still, it was enough to hold off the aggressive birds.

 

Sitting down in a squat, his elbows perched on his knees, he observed whatever it was that had was taking both his’ and the gulls’ attention. It looked like a miniature octopus, with a human body on top of it. Its lower body was white, making it only look even sicker than it probably already was. It had red, fin-like ears, four spikes with membrane between them, that got shorter and shorter downwards, each of the spikes ending in a black tip. Its hair was the reversed colour of its ears, black with brown-red, nearly violet, tips or was it blue? It had a shine that Yugi could only describe seeing on a pearl, or opal even. Perhaps the tips of its hair had an opal kind of thing going on, while being slightly transparent. Softly, the teen started to poke it, trying to place this strange finding somewhere in his knowledge of common sense. It took him some seconds, maybe even close to a minute, to realize that it wasn’t just a toy or his eyes playing a trick on him.

 

"Holy mother of-!" Yugi jumped up and looked around for yet another time. Not a soul in sight, except for the gulls that dared to close in a little. He got closer again and carefully picked the creature up, then walked over to the water and softly set it in the sea. All he could do was release It back into its natural habitat, right? But the gulls… wouldn’t they catch it once he was gone? The creature stirred a little, curling its little arms around for something to hold onto, but Yugi’s woollen fingerless gloves offered no help for it to latch onto. Besides feeling the suction cups trying their best to do so however, it didn't budge from its place, and seemed to be clinging to his glove with its tiny, human-like hands. He sighed. It was so small... But what should he do with it? He didn't want it to die! Yugi grimaced. He could... Take it to a vet?

 

No way, that would cause an unnecessary uproar! Maybe he could take care of it himself...? It was the only thing he could do for it... If he didn’t want it to get eaten by gulls…

 

Determinately, he opened his jacket and hid the hand with which he was holding the octopus-creature into it. He could try and keep it warm that way as he walked back to his house. Several times he looked down, just to confirm that it was real, and that he wasn't imagining things.

 

The being eyed Yugi with its pale eyes. They were as pale as its lower body and the human frowned. It looked as if it had a fever... But… What else could he do with it? He wasn’t sure if it was even poisonous or not! A lot of octopi were, and yet, knowing this fact, he tried to save a strange, nearly unrealistic creature? What was wrong with him?

 

"It's okay," Yugi smiled, "I'm going to help you," He told the little creature, but he was unsure if it could really understand him. Probably not. Who said it could even speak? It replied by making a whistling noise, sounding a bit like, "Rururururuuuuuuu."

 

No, it could definitely not speak.

 

The young teen noticed that there were gulls following him, and he growled, irritated by their constant squawking following him as he went on. It was rather unnerving, being followed by such creatures. And it wasn’t as if they were small either! Their wing span being about a frightening 2 to 4 feet long. One of them swooped down and yanked on Yugi’s hair. He cried out and swatted the bird away with his free hand and sped up his pace, the sea-birds persuading him like it was a cat-and-mouse game.

 

He cried out in victory, “Ha!” When he saw the top of his house appearing over the dunes. He gave an all-in effort to make it back to the house before any of the birds could do any more damage, getting out and fiddling with his keys in the door lock, before getting inside and slamming the door behind him. He quickly realized he forgot his keys on the lock and quickly opened the door again to snatch them away.

 

A long sigh came out of him at last when he, and his keys, were safely inside the house.

So... What now?

 

He looked down at the creature that he had clutched in his hand rather tightly, but it didn’t seem to be bothered by that. In fact, the colour of its lower body seemed to change a little, some salmon-pink spots showing on it as it nuzzled away in his hand.

 

He better put it in his aquarium… It looked and felt all dried up, not to mention it had a red bruise on one of its little arms. Could the beak of a seagull that had clenched around the arm too hard maybe be the cause of the red mark?

 

“Squea…” It looked up when Yugi placed it in his aquarium. He stepped back to sit on the couch’s handrail, watching as it sank into the water-tank. The tank itself was located in the wall between the kitchen and the lounge, taking a rather big piece of the wall. It had so many fish, so it had to be big! If anything were to happen with that tank, his fish were screwed! It was important to have big enough space in the tank for your fish, to where the result could often end in death of the fish if you didn’t.

 

The fish came towards the newcomer curiously, beginning to swim around it, some rubbing their gills against it. It seemed to respond by changing its lower body's colour to blend in along the surroundings. Yugi knew that fish lost heat through their gills, so maybe they were trying to share their warmth too?

 

He got out the fish food that stood in a cabinet, next to an old television, near the doorframe to the kitchen and fed his fish as he hadn't done that yet today, wondering what he should get for the creature. Would it be picky about its food? The fish came to eat, their mouths sucking up the little flakes funnily, and hungrily. He frowned as the little octopus creature didn't respond, and only looked at Yugi through a horde of hungry fish. Now that the fish did not surround the creature, Yugi got a better look at it from the side of the tank. It's eyes were a crimson-red colour, almost like coral. 

Wait… Weren’t they pale before? The skin of its lower body was now the same crimson colour, and to be honest, it looked rather upset…

 

Its raven-black hair with nacre tips was swaying like an anemone, though Yugi doubted there was that much current in the water. It was almost like Yugi's spiky hair. It had blonde bangs like Yugi too, but some of them accompanying the black hair in its way up, unlike Yugi who was permanently stuck with that annoying forelock of his…

 

Yugi sighed and decided to take a snack too, and thus walking to the kitchen, to prepare a shrimp sandwich for himself.

 

All the while, he thought about a name for the creature. He couldn't keep calling it 'It', could he? Let's see, there were Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl or just DM and DMG, the two big, black catfish that did an amazing job at cleaning the glass on the inside. They were as big as Yugi’s lower arm, from his wrist to his elbow. Then there were the Siamese algae eaters that he called 'The Kurasu' that helped out the catfish. The tank was once really dirty since the water-pump’s pipe got stuck, and Yugi bought them to get things clean. Was he amazed when they did an amazing job on eating away everything!

 

There was Manu, the pink Axolotl, and Judai, the green spotted puffer fish... He was just worried about Joey, his electric blue lobster. He just hoped Joey wouldn’t nip the little octopus creature...

Yugi smiled as he looked up from his sandwich to see how the sea creature was doing. It was looking at him tiredly, hiding in the shadow of the rock it sat at. Its colour had changed again, once again in the colour of its surroundings… A master of disguise, if only he could camouflage his hair and top skin. Yugi wondered what the function of camouflaging might be if it could be seen anyway.

It had its eyes closed, and swayed softly in the water's current. It took Yugi several moments before he realized it was actually really mimicking an anemone! That was really smart! It had its own tactic to make the surrounding fish feel safe, before surprise attacking them! Like a shadow waiting for prey to come close enough in its reach before striking. How peculiar! Wait, should he be worried it would try and eat the other fish?

 

No, it seemed too small to do any real damage… unless it used that poison which Yugi nearly forgot about. Nah, it’d be alright, he was sure!

 

Now, for a name…

 

He needed something that was soft, but fierce at the same time. Like... A velvet of darkness spreading its tentacles out, covering the land in an unreal world, where things were not as they seemed at first glance. It needed a soft name, one that was simple, but…

 

Amu? Yeah… He liked that name! It seemed to fit rather… Rather well actually!

 

He noticed the blunt look he received, as if the creature could hear his mind working and grinned cheekily, and as he smiled at it, Amu blinked back. The teen turned back to his lunch, quickly finishing it up. Covered with shrimps, mayonnaise, lettuce and egg, he took a bite out of the food and hummed his approval at it. He turned back to the tank to notice Amu had crept a little closer to the glass, but didn’t engage in anything yet. The snack asked attention of him yet again and he took another bite, swallowing blissfully. Once again he looked at the tank, only to gain the fright of his life, as Amu was plastered against the glass, eyes wide open, both his irises and skin swirling between red and blue. It glared at him, its lips forming a straight line across its face. Figuring it was hungry, Yugi took a handful of shrimps, Yugi stuck his hand in the tank, laying them in front of Joey and Manu. He realized that was a mistake, as the blue lobster did not like to share with any fish other than Manu. Well, Manu wasn’t really a fish but- ah you get the thing!

 

Said lobster walked over to them happily and began nipping softly at curious fish that came too close.

 

Amu suddenly changed colour to the same electric blue as the lobster in a matter of seconds, and tried to get closer stealthily. It was funny to see him try and fool the lobster into thinking he was an anemone, but he was too rash, which was what gave him away. He got nipped at one of his lower arms, which caused him to quickly flee back to the other side of the aquarium. Yugi laughed and took another hand full of shrimps. He was about to dispose them by putting his hand back in the tanker, when Amu swam up to him. Its colour was red and blue again, though this time there was more blue… He blinked as Amu blinked back at him, pausing just at the surface.

 

"Squeak!" Amu yelled when it broke the water's surface.

 

"Hello to you too Amu," Yugi laughed as he took one of the shrimps. Amu tilted his head as Yugi held out a shrimp, and took it over, carefully and cautiously with his own tiny hands.

 

He nommed it happily and when he was done, he looked up to get another one. His colour changed to a dark, navy blue/indigo. Yugi was almost immediately reminded of one of those rings or necklaces that changed when you held them. He rummaged through the package of shrimps to grasp one, giving another, when Amu suddenly had other plans and sucked himself stuck on Yugi's finger. Yugi's first reaction was to shake his hand violently and yelp. He didn't know why, but he guessed that Amu still freaked him out a bit. Said creature refused to let go, reaching out for the other hand that held the shrimps. Yugi decided to give up and presented the shrimps to the sea creature. Amu quickly jumped upon them, into the package, and devoured them faster than Yugi could down a whole glass of milk ad fundum.

 

For the rest of the day, Yugi spent the time by watching Amu doze around in the aquarium. And it almost felt like Amu was observing him as well. Perhaps Amu didn’t like to get stared at… It was around six when he finally landed into the couch and put on the tv, looking for any interesting shows that night. Well… There was Glee… Nah. Doctor Who? Nope. Oh No Yugi to Tora? Yes! It was this high-school kind of anime about a kid that could summon real life monsters with cards to fight off other monsters that attacked the school, but he had to do it in secret, because nobody else could see the monstrosities. Yugi loved the show since he was a kid, and it ran from 2001 till 2003, but it had a famous card game that was really popular back in the day. Then they began making spinoffs and all these new rules for the game that got way too confusing. Yugi liked playing the original game.

 

But the 2001-2003 ‘original’ as most rookies would call it, was actually a long reboot. There was another version, the origins of the kid’s power, produced in 1997 or so… The quality was crappy, the animation was crappy, the voice acting was- actually… Actually pretty decent, especially the boy’s monster had an awesome voice, but the rest was just crappy as shit. But Yugi loved it. It had its charm, it deserved respect for a reason. He didn’t know why but it had to. It was the original, the 1 st ! His eyes darkened a little. The monster was much more… evil-like, his actions vile and his expressions emotionally. He looked like a sociopath. He knew his actions were wrong, often the boy asked him to stop, but he did not listen most of the times. Nonetheless, his actions somehow resolved the problems… Maybe not in the right way, but every watcher, every fan knowing of the existence of that season, knew it had to be done…  Smarter fans called it the forbidden season, the dark season. Season zer-

 

"Queaky!"

 

He turned around and saw Amu at the surface of the water, looking pleadingly at him.

"What's wrong?" He asked. Amu held out his hands like a child asking to be picked up. Yugi went over to the little being, nearly smacking himself in the face as he knew the other couldn’t answer.

 

It pointed, to Yugi’s fascination, over to the television, squeaking and hitting the glass of the tank. “You want to watch it?” He looked in wonder. Amu kept pointing, and being persistent as he was, Yugi went to fetch a towel and picked Amu up and placed him into the towel and flopping back down on the couch. As the show went on, Amu turned his head and squeaked at the television multiple times when each time he saw the boy or his main monster. Perhaps it understood that the show was about those two…

 

He also tilted his head a lot, like a curious dog, making the soft whistling sound from before. Slowly, Yugi raised a hand and petted the little head that was Amu’s, the wet hair something akin to a kitten’s, the reason it stood up so perfectly, even though it was wet. Amu suddenly noticed and squeaked offended at Yugi, his interest to the show momentarily lost.

 

“Hahaha!” Yugi snickered, “I’m sorry Amu!” He hid his smile in his hand, snickering, before adding, “You’re so cute, I couldn’t help it!”

“Squeaky!!” Amu protested, flinging its upper arms around to keep Yugi’s hand away.

“So, do you like that tv show?” Yugi asked, fully aware that this was a question that might reveal whether Amu could understand him or not. However, his question got unanswered as Amu yawned, and shivered. It wasn’t really that cold in the house, so what was…

 

“Ah, look now, you’re all dried up!” Yugi frowned in concern. He’d forgotten that double episodes were over 40 minutes! This wasn’t good…

 

Getting up, Yugi placed Amu back into the aquarium, seeing it swim in the water happily. With a smile, he returned to his seat and decided to watch a movie. Maybe a drama, or a romance… How about a romantic drama?

 

Titanic popped into his head and he shrugged to himself. He had nothing better to do.

As the movie went on, he noted Amu sitting in the back corner of the tank, trying to get a better look at the television. Yugi giggled at the other’s behaviour but let Amu sit inside the tank nonetheless. He didn’t want the smaller to get sick from dehydration. It seemed that he had been starving, Yugi now realized, no wonder it was so pale, he was too weak to get his own food or even defend himself!

 

Yugi’s heart picked up a little speed at that thought.

But where did Amu come from?

 

Yugi didn’t even notice the movie was already at its end and playing the credits as he was asking himself all these kinds of questions.

 

How was Amu scientifically possible? Were there more of him? Did he have a family? Were they searching for him? What happened to make him stray away from home? Was his family safe? Should Yugi return him to the sea? With those gulls?

 

Those terrible… Deadly gulls?

 

“Quea’!” Yugi looked up from where he was sinking into the debts of his thoughts. Amu was tilting his head at him and looked a little upset. Had he been calling earlier as well, and had Yugi not responded? He didn’t know. He hadn’t noticed.

 

“Ah, it’s uh… it’s time to go to sleep,” He awkwardly said to the being.

 

“Q-uea’!” Amu held out his little hands, wanting to be picked up.

 

"Amu, I can't take you with me," Yugi said, rubbing his eyes. "Just go to sleep, you’re not alone here, see?" He instructed, but not unkindly. He rubbed Amu's head, against Amu’s will, before heading upstairs and preparing himself for bed. Just as he had crept under the blankets that were made of wool though, he shot back up when a horrible noise, the volume of a car alarm, began to wail through the lower part of his house. What in the hell was that!? Yugi was sure that this was exactly what a Siren would sound like, bringing ships down into the water to eat humans alive while they drowned.

 

He ran back downstairs, wincing as his ears started to hurt, and looked over to the fish tank from where the noise originated. The fish were going crazy, Amu sitting at the water’s surface, making the terrible, agonizing noise.

 

"AAAMUUU!!!" Yugi called. Silence immediately reigned, but Yugi could still feel his ears ringing. The creature looked at him, chirping for his attention.

 

"Ok..." He sighed tiredly, looking around for a pot. He was not going to sleep in the couch because of Amu. Absolutely not! He found what he was searching for in one of the kitchen’s cupboards and filled it with water, preceded with plucking a coral from the aquarium and put it in the pot. At last, he let Amu wrap its lower arms on his finger and put him in the pot as well. He went back upstairs with Amu happily swimming around in the pot and put him on his desk. Yugi was too tired for this. He could barely keep his eyes open as they stung when he tried to do so. See, Yugi had this condition. He didn’t know what it was, and didn’t bother going to the doctor with it either, but whatever it was, he was always tired more quickly than other people.

 

He blamed this condition, of course, on his unusually short stature. It didn’t bother him as much as it used to. He would be alright.

 

"Now go sleep Amu," He ordered as he glared towards the sea creature while getting back into his bed. Amu seemed to not have heard him and observed the room from the little pot he was in, making such funny faces that Yugi just couldn’t help but laugh!

 

“We’ll have to sleep if you want tomorrow to ever come you know?” Yugi told him. This got Amu’s attention, and he tilted his head at Yugi. Yugi did the same before putting off the light, hoping Amu wouldn’t scream again. But instead of screaming, or hearing something, Yugi caught a glimpse of Amu’s hair, glowing different colours in the dark, like the lamp on a nightstand. It was peaceful... Watching it made him feel at peace…

 

His head hurt as he dreamt. He was drowning... Something was pulling him under. He was four. He went ice-skating with his grandpapie. But... He had strayed too far away from his grandfather. He wasn't aware of the danger. The ice had broken beneath him, and he went under. It was cold. He couldn't come back up. The hole was already freezing back shut!

Something was pulling him under... He was drowning…

 

Yugi shot up with a start. It was the middle of the night. His head hurt from the familiar nightmare. He wanted to go back to sleep... But he couldn't. His eyes were drooping, but his muscles felt stiff and sore from the shock. The dream had been much too real. He didn't even know whether it was a dream or a memory…

  
Amu seemed to have stopped glowing and was wrapping his tentacles around the coral, reminding Yugi of a seahorse. He shivered as the sweat on his skin gave away to the air, cooling him down a lot. He was going to be sick. He knew he would. He hid back under his thick sheets and tried to get rid of the goose-bumps that were forming on his arms.


	2. More discoveries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shenanigans happen, and Amu had more character development

Amu was asleep when Yugi woke up. He didn't want to disturb the creature's needed rest, so he decided to go out grocery shop quickly. As expected, he had a little hint of a cold. Droopy nose, puffy eyes, and a constant spinning in his head were plaguing him that day.

 

He was getting some shrimps and fish food, maybe some sushi for himself. God he loved sushi. And hamburgers. He gave himself a cheesy grin at his own thoughts as he dropped some cheeseburgers in his basket. He wondered what else Amu would eat... maybe he'd like some salmon? He hoped Amu wouldn't turn all cannibal on his fish though... Even if Amu was hardly the same size as most of them, he was in no way to be called weak! Yugi knew now it wasn’t.

 

As he walked to the counter, a girl bumped into him, and he apologized. “S-Sorry miss!”

Said girl giggled and waved it off. “I’m the one who’s supposed to say sorry!”

Yugi laughed as well and took a moment to take her appearance in. Brown hair, with two of the most beautiful sapphire eyes he had ever seen and a lovely pink dress. Yugi blushed. She was pretty!

 

“Well then…” She awkwardly said, “I’m in a bit of a hurry, so maybe see you around?”

“Uh, yes!” Yugi nodded.  _ ‘I didn’t even… get her name…’ _

 

He found himself riding back home on his bike thinking about that pretty girl, when his train of thought was interrupted by what he thought was a car alarm was going off. The closer he got to his home however, the louder it got. He remembered he didn't have any vehicle but his bike to get around town and this could only mean one thing: Amu was awake.

 

Sighing, he had stormed inside, plunging his fingers in his ears to block out the sound as his groceries were thrown aside. Running up the stairs, Yugi called out to the creature and was relieved when it stopped wailing.

 

"'Qu-eeeeak!" The sea creature complained. What was this human thinking!? Leaving him alone like that! He… He was scared…  His eyes looked directly at Yugi, who noticed the scared look at once. He couldn’t be mad at Amu now! Look how he was trembling, and his colour was so white! Just as his eyes!

 

"Amu..." Yugi sighed as he walked over to the smaller, who was sitting at the rim of the glass pot, and petted his head. This time Amu did not protest and Yugi told him, "Just because I'm not here, doesn't mean I'm never going to come back."

 

The smaller, still trembling, wanted to be picked up and Yugi held out his finger, letting Amu suck himself stuck on his finger and listened how the small being made some sort of a purring sound. Yugi rubbed the little creature’s head with his thumb and Amu seemed to enjoy it as he pushed his head back. The teen went downstairs and tried to get Amu to sit back in the tank with the other fish, but Amu had other plans. He wanted to stay with Yugi instead.

 

Sighing, Yugi knew better than to force it and gave up, beginning to prepare dinner for that day. He had chosen to eat hare tonight, and it needed to be prepared. He loved cooking anyway. His grandpapie taught him how to do so, and often Yugi would cook more because of the… - obvious reasons.

He didn’t want the man to hurt himself or anything, and he had been getting a day older… 

Until…

 

“Ah!” He cursed when he felt the knife sting into his finger, wincing as some blood began to show. Amu squeaked and jumped from his shoulder onto his hand, catching Yugi by surprise. The teen began to feel a little lightheaded but ignored it for now, watching Amu patting the bleeding finger and licking the wound, against Yugi’s protest, who hissed as Amu did. He tried yanking Amu off, but failed, the suckers stuck to his hand and making red marks when he tried to remove their owner.

“Stop!” He ordered, but Amu did not seem to listen. Instead, the creature opened its mouth wide and…

 

“UUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!! It bit me!” Yugi yelled in panic.

 

He flung his arm around to get Amu off, but it was to no avail. No! He had to cover the wound before more blood came out! Yugi didn’t like blood, well, who did- but he got dizzy from it, -oh god was he falling!? It was getting all black in front of him…

 

“Squeak!”

 

Yugi felt himself fall on something soft, catching him and he groaned. Someone warm was holding him. He couldn’t see who, but whoever it was…

…

A soft, purring noise reached Yugi’s ear… He was lying on the ground, a wet towel sloppily placed over his head, little Amu on his chest, looking at him. Holding up his hand, Yugi didn’t spot anymore than a mark instead of a cut on his finger.

 

“… Wha…” He sat up, carefully clutching Amu against his chest as he examined the hand. There were little bite-marks on the palm of his hand, speaking of which, it was covered in a slime of some sort.

 

“Who…” He looked around, finding nobody around him, when he was sure there had been someone! Anyone!

 

He slowly rose to his feet, trudging over to the doorframe to linger there. There was not a soul but his and Amu’s. Yugi looked at his hand again, healed from the cut, but showing the red marks of the suction cups that had been there previously. He shook his head unsurely and turned back into the kitchen to finish the food. He couldn’t stand to ponder about things he couldn’t understand. The same was for Amu.

 

He selfishly went on with his own life, albeit trying, really trying his best to take care of the smaller, but he hadn’t even looked up anything that could even explain Amu’s existence. Perhaps he should do that, he mused, later today…

He felt Amu nuzzle his hand with a squeak, and patted the smaller, with a dizzy head getting back to preparing dinner.

 

Yugi didn’t like changes. The reason he didn’t leave this old house. The reason he kept being alone. The reason of every single thing in his life. Yugi did not like changes, because most changes were negative, and killed out the good reasons to ever try to change.

By the looks of it, he had been out for only a few minutes.

 

He mulled over what had just happened, continuing to make his dinner, all the while, Amu sat on his shoulder, squeaking excitedly. Right, he had to feed the fish too…

When Yugi was done with everything, he put the food away and nudged Amu's head again.

"How about some salmon for you then?" He asked, getting out said fish from the fridge and cut a slice of it into smaller pieces. Amu happily ate them, and, to Yugi's surprise, ate more than he thought the small creature ever could. Good to know he liked salmon too. At least Yugi wouldn’t have to throw away the last bits that he was never able to finish before the expiration date passed no more.

 

He was busy stroking Amu's head, when he noticed something on the tentacles that looked like dry slime.

 

"Amu..." Yugi frowned, "You're all dried up!" He carefully cupped Amu in his hands and walked over with the curious being to the aquarium. Since the suction cups couldn't suck themselves stuck without being wet, Yugi was able to force Amu into the water. The other fish immediately came to greet him and Yugi smiled.

 

"Why don't you take care of them? I'm just going to get my stuff, no screaming," He said, wagging his finger as if lecturing a little child. Amu just watched him.

 

Yugi ran upstairs and gathered his books and laptop, before coming back downstairs again. Amu was pressing his face against the glass, as if trying to mock Yugi. Yugi stuck out his tongue playfully and Amu backed up a bit. He blinked a few times, before swimming away and hiding under a rock. His tentacles coiled around it before changing colours to blend in. Laughing, Yugi opened up his laptop and began searching for some answers.

 

"Human octopus..." He muttered as his fingers punched down on the keyboard. "Hhmmmmpff!" He frowned as his leg tingled, beginning to fall asleep. He'd sit there for a while...

"Examples of human octopi, folklore of human octopi... Legends of human octopi... ... ... Sightings of human octopi?" He clicked on the link.

 

" _ Deep in the ocean, a scuba diver's team was exploring the bottom of the vast water known as the Atlantic sea. All was going well until one of them sent out an alarm signal. …” _

Yugi blinked. No, that wasn’t interesting. Probably a hoax story.

 

"Cecaelia..." He clicked the link.

 

" _ Also known as an octopus person, the Cecaelia are very dangerous..."  _ Yugi frowned. This was obviously a fake, but he went on.

_ "They are protectors of dark depths within the seas that should never be discovered, and are often seen as very unfriendly and unreasonable. They are a subspecies of the mermaids, rumoured that they once were one themselves, but became Cecaelia because there has been put a curse on them. They are known as sea demons as well as sea witches. It is highly rare for a male Cecaelia to show up as proved several times in ancient paintings and art... _ "

 

Hmm… If old cultures had contact with these creatures at one point…

 

Yugi tilted his head. A thought came up. Maybe Amu was a girl then... It was really hard to say at this point, because it would be as difficult as getting a baby and guessing whether it was a boy or a girl... Apart from the... obvious method... But he guessed Amu wasn't a girl. Something just told him so.

 

"Venom?" He suddenly yelped when he came across the page. " _ All octopuses have venom, though most are not dangerous to humans, they do paralyze other sea animals. The Cecaelia is believed to have a stronger variant of venom like the blue-ringed octopus though, which can kill up to, at least, eleven men... _ " Yugi cringed.

 

"Squeaky?"

He looked over to Amu who seemed to have rested just a bit more, but now was demanding his attention again.

"What's up?" He asked.

"'Queaky!" Amu held out his little arms again.

 

Yugi didn't think Amu was any of the things the web-page said about the Cecaelia, except maybe a little for the poisonous part, since there was a bit of truth in that. He stood up from his chair and let Amu latch onto his fingers. He rubbed Amu's back softly, taking a towel and making it slightly wet before wrapping Amu in it. He sat back down on the chair in front of the pc, petting Amu with one hand, and with the other, he searched around the net.

 

Amu jumped out of the towel and over to the screen of the laptop. He sat on the keyboard and patted the screen the whole time. It was then that Yugi realized Amu was hunting the pointer on the screen. Laughing, he played the little cat and mouse game with Amu, smiling when Amu 'caught' the pointer, but wasn't able to get it 'out' of the pc.

He looked up when Amu doubled over. "Hey are you ok?"

Amu looked over to the fridge.

"You're hungry again?" Yugi gawked. Amu just kept staring at the fridge.

Despite being small, he could surely eat a lot. Yugi had to buy more food for Amu than for himself!

 

It's been about 3 weeks ago that Yugi found him. Eventually, Yugi told himself he had imagined the accident in the kitchen and must’ve spaced out or something.

 

Winter had come and ice was forming on the water in the north of the country, making Yugi wonder if it would come as far as here. He was a bit unlucky when his boiler suddenly broke, leaving him with a cold house. Heck, even the aquarium was warmer!

He'd luckily been able to repair the boiler quickly.

 

Amu behaved well. A week ago, school started, and he became accustomed to waiting for Yugi to come home. He still didn't want to sleep alone with the fish, so most of the time Yugi just carried Amu's pot around the house.

When Yugi went to school though, he told the creature to keep an eye on the other fish. Yugi also came to know that the young girl he had met a few weeks ago was in his class! He told Amu that she was pretty.

 

Amu always looked how Yugi made homework, his miniature nose scrunching up at the math homework. Yugi didn't like math either to be fair. Amu did show a big interest however in the native language, often having Yugi read it aloud.

It was Monday when Yugi came home grudgingly. He had dealt with a beating from some classmates. He'd 'accidentally' tripped over their feet, and deserved a 'warning'.

 

He was so upset about it, he ran straight upstairs and searched safety within the confines of his room. He stood there, looking angrily around the room, shaking, in search of something he could break.

He ran back downstairs and gritted his teeth, letting out an infuriated scream, roaring at the top of his lungs.

"Squeaky!?"

...

Yugi had stilled. He turned to look at Amu and sank to the floor. After a few sobs, he rose to his feet and took Amu with him, back upstairs. He made his homework in silence. His results would be bad. Really bad. Like 0/10. He didn't care... At least he tried.

 

Thinking about taking a shower, he sighed as he rubbed Amu's head, and then turned, leaving Amu's pot on his desk. He didn't notice though that Amu was clinging onto his sleeve. Seems Amu was curious to find out what Yugi was doing every time he told the creature he'd 'take a shower/bath'. Yugi hadn't said it now, but the Cecaelia seemed to be able to tell when Yugi was going to do so.

 

The teen shrugged the clothes off his body, and jumped into the bathtub-shower, his muscles relaxing when the hot water hit his skin, and he sighed in relief. Maybe he'd take a bath now that he was at it. All the while Yugi was making himself a bath, Amu was wriggling his way through the mass of clothes. To him, it was a game. When he finally got out of the mess, he looked up to see Yugi sitting in a big cup, water spraying down on him. He coiled his tentacles, before trying to find a way to climb up.

His ran out of luck though, as everything was so much bigger than he was…

 

You know what? Why not just use the 'hand-levator'?

"'Queaky!"

Yugi blinked and looked at the door. Did he just...? No... No it couldn’t. He was imagining things… He closed his eyes again and-

"'Queaky!"

He looked up again and straightened, the water rocking back and forth and spilling some onto the floor. That didn't come from his room...

"'Queaky 'queaky squeee!"

He looked around the bathroom and finally saw Amu calling out to him, sitting on his clothes.

"Amu! How did you...?" He asked, cupping the Cecaelia in his hands and heaved up the smaller. He sighed as Amu squealed happily in his hands and he was trying to stand up, but slipped and knocked his head against the wall.

"Shit!" He cursed. He grabbed for the back of his head, rubbing it, before realizing he was no longer holding his charge! He might as well have crushed him!

 

"Amu?!"

'Blub!'

 

Something just… dove into the water.

Yugi searched the water for the smaller creature. Something nipped his leg and he went over to touch it. It moved over to his foot. The teen hauled the foot up and laughed when he heard Amu chirping, but wasn't clinging to his leg.

Good thing he didn't put any soap into the water, or it might've stung Amu's eyes!

 

Wait…

 

It… It almost seemed as if the water was rising!

 

Panicking, Yugi backed up as the water kept rising slowly up until the edge and spilled onto the bathroom-floor.

 

Two, huge, suction-cup-attached arms shot out the water and latched onto Yugi's arms, keeping him still, and finally, Amu came back up, breaking the surface and getting water EVERYWHERE! If Amu wasn't taller than Yugi right now, Yugi'd worry about cleaning it up, but he was too shocked out of his mind to do so.

Six more octopus arms spilled over the edge of the bathtub or were squashed against the wall as they coiled around, the sea-creature’s human body stretching itself in odd angles.

 

Amu looked like he'd just woken up or something, his eyes pressing themselves shut. He rubbed one of his eyes as he hissed. When they opened, he blinked several times, before Amu observed his own hands, clenching and opening them experimentally. He let out a yawn, the gills on the sides of his neck opening up so wide Yugi could see the opposite wall through them. At last, Amu's crimson gaze fell with fluttering eyes upon Yugi and he curiously approached the teen.

 

“A-A- Uhm-,” Yugi’s hands found Amu’s shoulder, stopping the other from approaching any further.

His eyes' pupils were horizontal slits, like a real octopus'. It was slightly creepy, unearthly. Yugi couldn't read those eyes, and that scared him even more. How did this happen? How did he become so big!? What was going on!? Yugi didn’t understand!

Amu had his face pushed into Yugi's, probably not knowing the meaning of personal boundaries, and sniffed through his nose thoughtfully. Or… No, he was sniffing Yugi. His head followed his nose to the crook of Yugi’s neck.

 

Yugi's heart was racing from surprise as Amu brought Yugi's arms close to his face and inspected the smaller's hands. He laid his own, webbed hand against Yugi's carefully, and smiled, purred even.

 

Despite from the membrane that webbed Amu’s hand, they were almost the same. Almost the same size too. Amu’s hands were a little bigger than Yugi’s, and slimmer. And slimy, ew…

 

Yugi just kept still. He didn't really know what Amu was after, though he couldn't help but find this situation familiar somehow.

Amu's gaze went down as he released Yugi's hands, and he came closer to Yugi's personal areas. 

 

Yelping, Yugi tried to back up and cover himself with his hands, his eyes closed tightly and his head was turned away from the Cecaelia.

 

Amu tilted his head and seemed to have dropped that subject when he took interest in Yugi's feet. He looked back and forth between his tentacle-arm and Yugi's feet, and gave a confused frown at Yugi.

As if he only now realized they were... different.

 

Yugi took the time to take in Amu's facial features... He had a very sharp face, perfectly positioned cheekbones, sharp eyes, and that perfect, slightly tan skin.

 

Yugi swallowed thickly and reached out his hand with the intention to pat Amu's head. The other recognized the movement and pressed his head against Yugi's hand, making another low, purring sound.

 

"You're… such an amazing creature, Amu," He told the taller, a smile coming to his face as Amu kept pushing back. He didn't expect Amu to pull him into a crushing hug or, for God's sake, speak!

"Amu."

 

Yugi blinked and looked up at the hybrid human hugging him. He wouldn't be able to actually learn to speak actual language, would he? That would be way too awesome! And embarrassing after this event, but awesome nonetheless!

 

"Amu?" Amu pointed at himself this time. He already knew his name, Yugi was sure of that, but he wanted to have Yugi confirm it.

"That's right, that's your name; Amu," Yugi smiled.

"Amu!" Amu pointed at Yugi.

"Haha- uhm, no no," Yugi wagged his finger playfully, "My name is Yugi!" Amu squinted his eyes. Yugi wasn't sure whether he was thinking, or glaring at him, and he swallowed a lump in his throat.

 

"Yuuuuuu...Gi!" Amu said, attacking Yugi's face with cuddles. Yugi laughed and slightly hugged back.

"That's right!" He laughed. Amu was too excited to stop now and kept repeating the same thing.

"Yugi Yugi YugiYugiYugiYugiYugiYugiYugiYugiYu-!" The boy put a finger on Amu's lips, successfully silencing the other. "You sure like to hug a lot..." Yugi smiled.

 

"... Amu like hug lot!" Amu grinned.

"Yes, Amu likes hugging a lot, which is you, so you should say 'I'" Yugi explained.

"I likes hugging a lot?" Amu tilted his head. Yugi laughed and shook his head.

"I  like hugging a lot!" Amu tried again.

"Yes!" Yugi praised him by rubbing his head once again, uttering a small, “Wauw."

This was actually happening! Amazing!

 

"I... I... I like Yugi a lot!" Amu pressed his lips together and hid a smile.

"Y-You do?" Yugi blinked in surprise. Amu seemed to calculate something else, his eyes zoned out a bit, before his mind came back to earth. "Yugi... Likes... Amu?"

"O-Of course! You're my friend!" Yugi said a bit flustered.

"Friend?"

"Yes."

"Friend?" Amu asked again.

"Someone that stands beside me, and… helps me... You help me Amu... More than you think you... do..." Yugi's eyes began to water a bit. Amu was alarmed when the tears leapt down Yugi's face, and panicked. He was swaying his arms back and forth, unsure what to do, and his gills were opening and closing up rapidly.

 

Yugi didn't realize this, until he felt a tongue lick his cheek.

"A-Amu!? What are you doing?!" He jerked in surprise.

Amu veered back to the other side of the tub, looking like a scolded dog. He only tried to clean Yugi's face from the wet tears...

 

"... Sorry... I shouldn't have yelled," Yugi shook his head. Amu released an audible breath before he edged closer to Yugi again. Secretly, he couldn't deny it that he wanted to taste more of those salty tears. He curled his lower arms around Yugi's legs a bit, and his others around Yugi's torso, hugging the smaller again. Maybe he shouldn't lick them off... Maybe he should... Kiss them away? Could he do that? Should he do that?

 

Yugi staggered when two lips were placed over his left eye. Amu pulled back and placed his index finger beneath the tip of Yugi's chin, and heaved the smaller's head up, to make Yugi look at him.

"Yugi... Are you... alright?"

"Y... yeah..." Yugi answered, lingering into the spell Amu had created, though the latter didn't even know he had.

 

"... Amu... Where did you come from?" The human suddenly asked.

"Amu... Come from?" The taller tilted his head.

"Yeah, where were you born? What's the first thing you remember?" The smaller clarified.

"... Yugi is the first thing I remember!" Amu smiled.

Was... Was that a lie? Why did he hesitate? No, that couldn’t be plausible in a situation like this. Unless… he had hit his head! Wait…

Yugi raised a hand to Amu’s temple and searched for a wound or anything, but found only a thin scar on his eyebrow.

000

"Say, Amu, how about wearing a t-shirt?" Yugi teased as he was putting on his PJ's. When he was done, he took the t-shirt of one of his plushies, and fitted it over Amu's head and arms. He was smaller again. He had tried to explain to Yugi that he couldn’t speak in this form. Yugi guessed it had something to do with the amount of water that there was. If that was the case, he wondered just how big Amu could get!

"Hmm..." Yugi looked at the 'I love hugs' text that was on the t-shirt. "It fits!"

Amu didn't seem so keen about wearing it... It was a bit too big... It was more of a blanket than a t-shirt to him. He looked up to see Yugi looking at his book-shelf, picking out a book.

Amu yawned as he looked over to the pot that Yugi had placed on the nightstand. 

 

Yugi smiled and put Amu in the water. He settled himself thereafter into his bed and began reading. He didn't get further than the second sentence as Amu squeaked.

"... You want me to read it for you?"

Amu nodded, smiling.

It was wednesday and Yugi had taken Amu on a walk. He didn't bring the pot, as he figured Amu'd like to swim in the sea. At first he was afraid to be left alone, that Amu would leave him, but it turned out that Amu panicked when Yugi put him in the water. Amu was a bit taller, but nothing close to that one time in the bath…

 

"Don't worry, you'll swim, and I'll walk," He explained. Amu tilted his head before nodding.

Yugi blinked as he watched Amu swim a little deeper. He began walking as Amu followed him. After a while, Yugi stopped. He looked how Amu seemed to relax in the water and smiled. But… 

 

Something was off… Yugi tilted his head as Amu came closer and swallowed when he realized Amu was triple the size of what he had been in the bathtub. And he was still growing larger!

His eyes settled on Yugi, and the young man paled. Without a second’s thought, he turned around and ran up to the steep dunes, never reaching them, as a big tentacle wrapped around his right leg and pulled him back to the sea effortlessly. Before he knew it, he was hanging dozens of meters in the air, two, huge eyes staring down at him. “Oh my god!” He whimpered in panic.

 

He was going to get eaten! Amu was going to gobble him up like one of those shrimps and- and-

Amu tilted his head and gently dropped Yugi in both of his hands. One of his lower arms poked Yugi and Amu smiled, but Yugi didn’t meet his eyes, and was trying to protect his head with his arms. Was Yugi… afraid?

 

Amu frowned. He didn’t want Yugi like this… He never meant any harm to Yugi! He just wanted to show Yugi his trick… He held Yugi closer and waited till the other dared to look up. Then, he smiled. Yugi looked away again, only a few seconds, before slowly getting up. He held out his hand and Amu closed in so Yugi could touch the bridge of his nose.

Yugi smiled softly, feeling a little more confident, Yugi patted Amu’s front head and smiled.

“You’re not going to eat me, right?” He softly asked.

“Nooooooooo!” Amu frowned, his voice full of shock and indignity.

 

“O-Ok we-well you… could you put me down please?” Yugi swallowed thickly.

Amu smiled and did as the smaller asked. 

 

“Want to eat fish?” Amu asked.   
“Uhm..” Yugi shrugged.   
Amu grabbed something in the water and hauled it up, showing Yugi the fishnet he had found, laying it next to Yugi. 

“Where did you find this?” Yugi inspected the net as Amu turned back around. This time, he had to use both of his hands to heave up whatever it was he grabbed for. Yugi caught a glimpse of it and cursed.

 

“The… The …”

Amu tilted his head as he put the shipwreck in front of Yugi. It looked intact on the bottom, but the top that usually stuck out looked a little dent. It must’ve toppled over in the storm a few months ago! 

“The Kurib-oh-my god!” Grandpapie’s ship! Yugi nearly screamed in excitement. “Amu!” He called the sea-creature over, spreading his arms happily. Amu shrank down to human size and swam towards Yugi, his head low, thinking he did something bad at first. When Yugi walked into the water towards him and hugged him, he smiled too and hugged back.

 

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” Yugi’s breath hitched. 

When it was time to go back home, Amu showed Yugi that he had collected some neat little treasures, such as shells and snail houses. Yugi loved them. Amu was happy to make Yugi happy. 

 

Yugi thought about what to do with the ship as they walked. The motor would be busted, but… He glanced at Amu… Amu would have no problem to help him, right? 

All he had to do was clean out the cabin and the deck and hope it would stay afloat. That or he would make it a beach-boat-house. The cabin was big enough to put in a bed and store some food… He’d think about it later.

 

As Amu came swimming back towards Yugi, the taller couldn't help but coo at the cute sight of Amu swimming in the small waves, puffing and gaping with his mouth like a fish. Yugi wanted to pick the now smaller up but Amu kept circling around his boots.

 

Hey-Hehhey!" Yugi laughed as he got Amu out of the water, but the smaller was still swimming in his hands, not realizing he was out of the water. This whole time he hadn't stayed under for more than 5 minutes, as if making sure Yugi hadn't left him. Guess they both had a fear of losing the other. Yugi had nobody but Amu. But what about Amu? Did he still have family?

 

"Amu, why didn't you go back to your home?" Yugi asked him when he had returned home and was sitting on the bed with Amu in his lap. He looked down to see Amu was asleep and sighed. Guess today was fun... If only he knew Amu wasn't really asleep.

 

A month and a week passed, and Yugi and Amu had grown inseparable. Yugi had another embarrassing moment when Amu suddenly took interest again in the little monster between his legs... Was it too much to ask to stop looking at it?

 

But that wasn't the only thing, no, Yugi had once fallen asleep in bath with Amu, only to wake up, wrapped up by huge tentacles. It took him a moment to realize they were Amu's, as he was gawking at the man that laid in front of him. Amu was asleep too. Yugi bit his lip. He wanted to... stroke that ever so soft looking, spiky hair!

 

Softly, he moved over and petted Amu, making the sea creature purr in his sleep. Yugi tilted his head and brushed the back of his fingers against those strange-looking ears. They were soft, fin-like, but they weren't open like they usually were. He kept patting Amu's head until his ears did flap open very suddenly. It startled Yugi, and Amu laughed. Then he began to shrink, and his tentacles unwrapped themselves from around Yugi. Amu was really attached to Yugi. And he was just as attached to Amu.

He never had any full conversations with Amu, as the other wasn't always able to reply back other than "Squeaky!" or something he tried to mimic that Yugi had said, but he didn't mind.

He knew Amu was somehow trying to make him happy. But... he knew Amu wasn't as oblivious as he portrayed himself. Amu was smarter than you'd think. Amu was compassionate, cheered Yugi on, and Yugi realized that he didn't feel as alone as he thought he would.

Amu was the little ray of light in his life.

Yugi was able to make some friends at school as well, but he was terrible at keeping in contact with them over the weekends. He occasionally lost his phone and such...

But all was good as it was now. For Yugi, it could stay like this.


	3. Water and ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More shenanigans :p

Amu wanted to go out on walks more.

While he was supposed to do homework. Amu insisted on going on a quick walk though, and otherwise, Yugi reasoned, he would be kept up in the aquarium too much, which wasn’t good for Amu either, because he would get bored, and if he got bored he would escape the aquarium and bother Yugi. 

 

The stack of shells kept growing. Yugi guessed that the hybrid just brought back about every shell he passed. Amu found a firestone once, with white quartz in it. It was actually kind of pretty, so Yugi had laid it in the aquarium. He did that with the rest of algae covered shells, since the Kurasu ate away the algae in only a matter of days.

 

"AAAAAmuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" He called over the sound of the howling sea. The wind was picking up, and Yugi did not like the clouds that were coming their way. The wind blew with mighty tugs into his face, sending his blonde bangs skyward. "Amu we've got to go back! I have a paper due to tomorrow!"

His calls went unanswered, and he waded himself through knee-high water to find the creature.

 

"Amu? Amu where are you?" He shouted again, getting desperate and wading himself even deeper.

Yugi suddenly felt no ground beneath his feet-

_ Sweep-! _

-slipped away-

_ Splounsch! _

-and went under.

 

Yugi never entered the deep, dark water after what happened when he was four. And the sea here was so strong and violent, that it could pull you under and drag you down even more. And that's exactly what was happening to Yugi.

 

He was being pulled under. He was losing his breath. He was drowning. Just like in his dream. He wasn't... He saw the daylight filtering through the water.

'Damn...' He thought, as the air escaped his lungs, 'That is beautiful...'

His body was getting so cold...

The water pressured so hard against his eardrums, they felt like they were about to explode...

Liquid filled up his nose and beyond, reaching his mouth and making him eventually open it, only to lose more air.

 

Then… he saw a smudge…

 

"Yugi!"

 

A voice? But... He was under water... A voice couldn't be that pure, or it should've been a special kind of voice…

He... ...

...

...

...

...

"-gi!"

"Yugi! Yugi look me at! Open eyes!"

 

Water bolted out of his lungs. His vocal chords and throat hurt as he coughed it up. They hurt so... So badly... What happened to him? Where was he?

 

"Yugi?" He averted his eyes to the figure leaning over him, but he could only see a silhouette. 

 

"Yugi?" He gagged and turned to the ground, coughing up the rest of the water in his lungs. A sudden force knocked the air out of him as he was pulled into a crushing hug.

"Sorry, I am sorry! Amu should have come when you called!"

 

His head hurt. Who ...? Right, Amu... He laid his head down and winced. His breathing was ragged and he was cold, so thus the reason he was shivering frantically.

He felt Amu trying to share his body-heat with him though…

 

"... Yugi?"

 

He looked again at the Cecaelia who was with him, and whimpered, curling into himself. The other embraced him again, more softly this time. No words were spoken as Yugi fell into a state of unconsciousness, exhausted.

Amu frowned. This wasn't the place nor the time to take a nap, but he guessed if Yugi wanted to rest here, he'd keep watch.

 

Oh... If only he had legs like Yugi, he'd be able to carry Yugi home! He sighed. He hoped Yugi would wake up soon... It was getting rather late, and with the night, the cold would come…

 

Something skimmed beneath the water's surface. He looked longingly at the water, thinking about taking a quick snack, but shook his head and placed that line of thought out of his own mind. He couldn't leave Yugi here, like this...

Amu laid down on the sand and laid Yugi's limp body upon him. No use letting the other sleep on the cold sand, he needed to stay warm. He remembered sharing heat was the best thing to do in situations like this, so he slipped seven of his tentacles under Yugi's clothes, as those were wet, and not very useful. Amu himself didn't mind the cold sand. He was accustomed to it. The sea creature closed his eyes as well, settling himself into a subconscious state for just a few minutes.

 

000

 

"... Hmmh..." Yugi frowned and his eyes fluttered open. His breath hitched at seeing the dark night sky and he panicked because he couldn't see anything!

When Yugi began to stir, Amu tightened his grasp before opening his eyes, meeting Yugi's deep blue -almost violet- ones.

 

"Yugi!"

"EEk!" 

 

The teen yelped and began flinging his arms around, only for them to be stopped by two tentacles.

"Amu is here," Amu cupped Yugi's face, trying to calm the smaller.

"Wh-Y-You saved me!" Yugi gasped.

"It was Amu's fault you almost died in the first place..." Amu scolded himself. Yugi just hugged him.

 

"I wanna go home..."

 

"Amu found the way back home!" Amu grinned, wetting himself a bit as he took a quick dip in the water. He’d dragged Yugi all the way home, which resulted in Amu being covered with sand everywhere! He could even taste it in his mouth! Yuck!

“What do you…” Yugi peered in the dark and looked up surprised to see his house. Amu had indeed been successful to find the way back to the shore where the house stood. “Oh…” Yugi smiled.

 

"Shit, it's cold... " Yugi twitched as he got Amu out the water and who shrunk, wrapping his tentacles around Yugi's fingers.

They quickly got inside, Yugi jumping into his starry pyjamas, before diving under the covers. It wasn't until a minute later, that he felt a mass settle onto his sheets. 

 

Yugi looked up from under the covers to see Amu resting with his head on Yugi's feet. 

 

"... Uh... Amu, what are you doing?"

“Wanna stay here,” Amu patted the bed a few times.

 

The teen smiled and patted Amu's head. He slowly got up to fetch a wet towel and laid it over Amu, before getting back into bed. Amu never chose to sleep literally with Yugi before. Mainly there were 2 reasons:

-One, it was weird

and

-Two, he could dehydrate.

 

But, Yugi guessed, it was only for one night. What could be the harm?

Smiling softly, he patted Amu's head once more, laughing when the latter purred softly. He kept on patting until he eventually began falling asleep.

* * *

".. Hmm... Don't... hurt them..."

Yugi's eyes fluttered open like morning butterflies. He didn't remember laying with his head on the other side of his bed, where his feet were supposed to be... He looked around to find two arms wrapped around him. A soft breathing caressed his neck, and he tried turning around, but his captor wouldn't let him. The teen felt that his legs were strapped with a few tentacles and he frowned. This should probably not become a habit…

 

"Amu," He tried looking over his shoulder. "Amu wake up!"

"Hmmrrr... nh... They... didn't do any wrong..."

A frowned. "Amu?"

"Why... you do that...?"

"A-Amu?"

Said sea creature shot awake in an instant, screaming loudl-

 

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"EEEEEEEEK!"

 

Yugi screamed at the same time. Amu looked down at him with those alien eyes and blinked. They were rather creepy, those eyes, looking like they could see straight into your soul, unreadable and foreign.

 

"S-Sorry..." The Cecaelia apologized, panting, as Yugi was rubbing his eyes and the bridge of his nose with one hand, sighing deeply. " ... Had...a... a nightmare..."

Looking up, Yugi tilted his head. "What was it about?"

 

Amu immediately turned away, nervously fiddling around with his hands. His eyes kept blinking and shifting, indicating he was thinking, or even reliving the dream. Yugi watched as the arms let go of his legs, and eventually, Amu sighed.

"My old home..."

"Something... Bad happened?" Yugi guessed.

"Amu… went away from there, knows where to find it... But... That's all to remember... don't know why... Who... I was..."

Yugi swallowed thickly. He grabbed Amu's hand and then asked, "You... have amnesia?"

"I don't remember my own name."

"... I... I'm so sorry..." The teen uttered as he clenched his hand around Amu's. The other responded with a squeeze and suddenly smiled.

 

"I'm happy here."

"I'm happy you're here."

"Thank you Yugi."

 

They sat there for a while, enjoying the peaceful moment. Amu even snuggled into the corner of Yugi's neck, making the smaller giggle. His hot breath made Yugi shiver, and deciding to lay down again, something came to Yugi's mind all of a sudden.

"Hey... Octopi are nocturnal, aren't they?"

"Amu doesn't know," Amu shrugged, completely dumbfounded and thrown off by the random question.

 

"What do you mean you don't know?" Yugi blinked as the taller wiped away his forelock from his eyes.

"Never met one before," The other laughed. Yugi smiled. He didn't care if he skipped school today ... Or that he was going to get a lecture from the teacher the following day. He just enjoyed this moment, and he wasn't going to let anything ruin it.

But all of a sudden…

His head spun...

"Hiii-hiii-"

"Yugi?"

"Ha-CchUU!" The teen sneezed forcefully. "Uh... Yeah.. I think I'm going to sleep agai-"

"I'll keep you warm Yugi!"

"Thanks," Yugi laughed at Amu's eagerness.

 

000

 

Yugi woke abruptly. He was feeling cold, and sweaty. He had… TOTALLY FORGOTTEN ABOUT HIS PAPER! Looking around, he noticed Amu had crept into the pot on the nightstand, guessing the creature must've been drying up eventually. It was one in the afternoon if he had to believe his clock, and Yugi got up, planning in showering. Screw the paper.

 

"'Queaky!"

 

Or bathing then. Yes, bathing sounded very nice.

He turned around and let Amu suck himself stuck to his finger, rubbing the minuscule Cecaelia's head with his thumb and receiving purring sounds of gratitude. He opened the door to the bathroom, about to enter, when his phone buzzed. The small youth sighed and went over to his desk where the device laid and picked up his phone.

 

"Hello?"

"Yug'! Where are ye at?"

"Home...?"

"So you skippin' class?"

"Well, not really- I'm kinda sick..."

"The gang an' me wanna check up on ya Yug'!"

"You- aha-ahnd the gang?" He looked at Amu who was chirping and tilting his head.

 

Yugi was surprised his friends wanted to make sure he was ok! None of his other relatives, his own family, was that eager to do so. He imagined he was always the fifth wheel on the wagon or something, but this… It really meant a lot.

 

"Yeah! We's worried about ya pall!"

"Joey, I'm perfectly fihine- ahn-don't you worry, I -I mean, there's no need to check up on mehe-"

 

Yugi sobbed a little. Maybe because of his cold, maybe because he was touched. They didn’t even know each other that much!

 

"You absolutely sure Yug'? I'm asking you this man to man, but you didn't have an accident this morning did y-"

"Joey!"

"Just sayin'! It can happen to anyone!"

"It didn't ok? I swear to God, so help me, next time you see me and ask me that again you're gonna eat my socks!"

"Yayayah- Look, the rest says that if you're too tired to have us all, they understand, but at least have me over? That way, Tea'll stop her whining of, 'Where's Yugi?', 'Is he ok?' - 'God I wish I could date hi-AAAWW! WHAT? IT'S TRUE!"

Yugi pulled away from the phone as he could imagine the girl scolding Joey right there at school. Laughing, he listened to the screaming gibberish, Amu looking confused, before he decided to break into the fight.

 

"Hey, around five would be nice."

"Sounds good to me Yug'! I'ma be there!"

"See ya Joey..."

"Later pall!"

* * *

“Please don’t splash the water all around the bathroom again, Amu…” Yugi requested as he put Amu in the bathtub. Amu squeaked before disappearing beneath the water’s surface and reappearing when he’d grown. His head came up until his nose out of the water, his gills opening and closing gently.

He watched as Yugi got out of his clothes and as he observed the human, he laid his arms on the edge of the bathtub with his head on top.

He shrugged about something as he made room for Yugi to join. The smaller sighed and got into the bath as well. Amu really didn’t care about nudity, since he didn’t even wear clothes at all! In fact, Yugi noticed Amu tended to keep his third right arm tucked closest to him at all times. The limb only has about 75% of suction cups too, the other 25% a smooth, wet muscle. Yugi shuddered, not wanting to think about it, thankful Amu was cautious.

 

“Amu, what am I to you?” Yugi asked as he fussed around, catching the other off guard. The Cecaelia blinked as he had been taken aback. What was Yugi to him? Yugi was his friend, his best friend! Maybe even a brother! But… Brothers could never like each other like Amu did Yugi… Amu loved Yugi…

 

“Yugi… Yugi is mine,” He answered. Yugi grimaced lightly, “So I’m something you own…”

“Mine to protect,” Amu clarified.

“O-Oh…”

“And I?” Amu asked, but Yugi frowned, as he wasn’t sure what Amu was asking. “What to you? A pet?”

“A friend. My best friend… If…” He trailed off and turned away. Amu sat in anticipation to hear what else Yugi was going to say, but the shorter didn’t say anything.

“What?” Amu eventually asked.

“Nothing, it’s stupid-” Yugi sighed and changed the subject. “Look, there’s a friend from school coming over, and I don’t really want him to see you, so…”

 

“Why not?” Amu asks. Yugi hesitates. “Well, I just don’t want a rumour spreading around town about a magical creature living in my aquarium, and I certainly don’t want anyone to come steal you.” Amu laughed before turning dead serious. “I’d eat them.”

Yugi looked at him surprised. “E-Eat??” He gasped. The Cecaelia tilted his head curiously. “Amu- You should never, ever try to eat anyone!”

 

“But…?” He blinked confused.

“I’m sure a Cecaelia doesn’t eat another Cecaelia,” Yugi explains.   
“No…. but Cecaelia do eat fishtails,” Amu throws back as if this is common knowledge.

“Fishtails?” Yugi blinks, now in his turn confused.

“Yes!” Amu cheered, “Like me but fishy tails!” There were merpeople. There were more merpeople. And Amu literally just said he’d eat them. But what if they were just as smart as Amu? Did this mean… Amu had… Yugi shivered.   
“O-Oh… W-well you can eat normal fish too right? I mean… uhm…”    
“Yugi, are you afraid I would eat you?”   
“Well, no, I know you won’t,” Yugi says, “But I don’t want you to eat anyone else either. Especially not people or merpeople ok? Just fish and…. Whatever it is you eat... besides that,” Yugi seemed a little scared.   
  
“I promise I won’t,” Amu says, smiling.

* * *

 

“You have a lobster named after me?”

“Technically I didn’t name him after you,” Yugi countered, “But you have to admit, it is a pretty common name.” He was anxious as Joe was looking into the fishtank. Amu had to stay hidden, and Yugi couldn’t leave him in the bath; he didn’t want Amu to disappear down the drain accidentally.

 

Thus the result was that Amu was inside the fishtank. This resulted in Yugi being anxious. Of course Joey had noticed this.

“Actually my full name is Jounouchi-”

“It is?” Yugi’s eyebrows rose. Well that’s something he’d never guessed.

“Yeah, but it’s quite a mouthful so I have people call me Joey instead.” Yugi nodded understandably. “So how are you feeling?”

“Sick,” Yugi laughed, “Wanna share pizza with me?”

“I can’t see why not,” Joey grinned, sitting down in Yugi’s couch. Yugi nodded again and ran to the kitchen, getting the pizza into the oven and-

 

“Nyaaah!!”

 

Of course. Of course! Sure! It HAD to happen! Yugi turned back around to see Amu- … No, it was Joey’s finger tightly clasped in between the pincers of his lobster.

“Hold still, if you don’t move he’ll let go,” Yugi laughed. “What were you trying to do anyway?”

“There’s a fish stuck in the filter tube,” Joey groaned when the lobster let go of him. A shrieking squeak pierced through the water and Yugi looked to see Amu being sucked into the filter, his upper body stuck in the tube. Yugi gasped and turned off the filter at once, getting Amu out of the tube and out the water. “Is it ok?” He heard Joey ask.

“Squeak…”

 

Yugi rubbed Amu’s head and sighed. What was he going to do with Amu…

“Thank you Joey… You saved him,” Yugi murmured. He watched as Amu grew in size, and how Joey’s face turned into a scowl of fear as Amu did, the Cecaelia coughing a little to get his gills working again.

 

“Yug’ what is that!?”

“I don’t know,” Yugi casually shrugged as Amu hugged him. “He’s chill.”

“Yugi you’re freaking me out man!”

And so, Yugi was forced to explain to Joey how he had found Amu on the beach. They ended up perched onto the couch, Amu leaning against Yugi.

“Oh god- Gulls trying to eat you must suck!”

 

“It does!!” Amu spoke in a whine, showing his upper arm that seemed to still have a bruise.

“It can talk…” Joey stated.

“Yeah, but his grammar’s not always very good,” Yugi shrugged. He turned on the television to keep Amu occupied.

“Watch movie?” Amu tilted his head. “Ttitianic?”

“Titianic? Titanic? Seriously?”

“Let him be, he likes the movie,” Yugi laughed.

“Or or ororororrrrrr mm… The little mermaid!” Amu bounced in excitement. Joey’s look kept changing, not sure he had to laugh or be horrified. “Amu, why don’t you watch finding Nemo instead? I’m sure you’ll like it,” He then suggested, to Yugi’s surprise. “Nemo?” Amu seemed interested.

 

“Yeah, it’s a good movie!”

“The sequel was released some time ago wasn’t it?” Yugi questioned, getting a nod from his friend.

He was happy that the other took Amu rather well but… “Don’t tell the others, ok?” He suddenly asked as they were eating pizza and watching finding Nemo. Amu had diverted his attention from the tv when he smelled the food.

“Can’t he have some?” Joey asked when Amu began to pull this… odd look on him. Yugi frowned and decided to ask Amu about it later.

“You don’t know what that’ll do to him, he’s a fish-eater…” Yugi frowned.

“I want! I want!!!” Amu demanded and stole a piece. Yugi was able to stop him from swallowing it whole, saying, “Chew on it first!” for lack of being unable from keeping Amu from eating it.

“…” Amu’s face frowned.

“How does it taste?”

“… … mm… No.”

 

Amu spit it back out onto the top of the pizza box, much to the two humans’ disgust.

“Amu!” Yugi scolded. But he guessed he should have expected as much. Amu wasn’t human, he didn’t belong on a couch, in a pot, or an aquarium… He belonged in the sea…

* * *

 

Yugi’s jaw fell open when he saw the sea near his house the next day. 

“Amu… I … I don’t think you’ll be able to swim anymore…” He murmured. “Why not?” Amu asked. He looked up at the sea and gasped. The sea was frozen.

 

“Wait here,” Yugi said, clearly excited, and got back inside. Amu looked at the ice and frowned. How strange… it hadn’t frozen last night… Not even snowed! The sea creature helped himself over the beach, growling at the seagulls and sliding onto the frozen water. He swiped away some of the frost that laid upon it, and looked at the water beneath it… He squinted and slammed on it when he thought he’d seen something move beneath the ice. 

“Oh! Amu! You’re already there! Is it safe?” Yugi poked the ice with his feet. He should weigh Amu when he had the chance. Yugi was actually curious about his weight. Oh! And he kept forgetting about the shrink and grow ability! But that was for later...

 

Yugi slid over, next to Amu, on his skates. Wobbly.

“It’s perfect for ice skating!” Yugi stared at the ice and sighed. It’s been ever since the accident that he’s dared to skate again. How old was he back then? He didn’t remember clearly… But Amu’s enthusiasm and the fact that he’d saved Yugi before gave him hope. 

 

“...You’ll catch me if I sink through the ice, right? Yugi gulped. Amu laughed and nodded. Yugi smiled and began skating, Amu sliding next to him as best as he could. Yugi showed of a few tricks, like a pirouette, which Amu copied, and skating on one blade. Amu watched Yugi, copying him as best as he could. He was starting to want to have legs for his own… He was also starting to get a little cold, so did Yugi and he called it to a stop.

 

Yugi smiled and scooted over, skating at a quick pace, he barely noticed the blade of his skate cutting through something, till he fell over, face-first on the frozen floor.

“Aww…” he groaned… What was…”

His face paled when he saw what was wiggling beside him. He was absolutely horrified as Amu looked at him, his eyes squinted as if doing an effort not to say anything. “Yu… Yugi…”

“Oh my god- OH MY GOD OHGODOHGODAMUIDIDNTMEANTO-” Yugi was crying, terrified about this mishap, and it was all his fault! No-no-no!

 

He’d skated over one of the other’s lower arms- it had been completely cut off, nice and clean, by the blade of Yugi’s skates. He screamed, panicking all over the other and the separated limb. Amu looked as it still wriggled around, laid his hand on Yugi’s shoulder, and patted him on the head. “Please Yugi don’t cry, I’m ok.”

 

What did he mean he was ok!? He was definitely in pain look at him he couldn’t be alright! Yugi was sitting on his knees, so he was almost at Amu’s eye-height. 

“You’re not ok! We need to get you to-to -to a hospital! Or a vet! I don’t know!”

 

“It’s ok.”

 

“How could this be ok- This is not ok- I’m so sorry-Inevermeanttodoitpleasetellmeyou’llbeok!!!”

Amu looked at the arm and grabbed it before giving it to Yugi, who only got more horrified as it still moved around at its own will. “”EEEh”!!!” He dropped the arm and jumped away from it. “Oh my god- oh god-”

“It can happen,” Amu seemed amused. “Waste not, want not,” He shrugged, picking it up and gnawing at it. Yugi jerked it out of Amu’s hands. “Don’t eat that!” He scolded. He’d read octopi would sometimes eat one of their own arms if they were too hungry, but he’d never thought Amu’d do it too…

 

Wait… Did this mean… Maybe… He never fed Amu enough…? Was that why Amu was so keen on going on walks? Because he could hunt fish in the sea and eat much more than Yugi could provide?

What if… It was? Then why had he stayed with Yugi…? Amu was gnawing at the arm again, and Yugi pulled in it, but so did the Cecaelia. “You can’t eat your own limbs! That’s disgusting!”

“It’s not!” Amu protested, the arm snapping in two.

 

The Cecaelia didn’t seem bother by it however as his teeth continued their gnawing on whatever he had been able to get. Yugi let him. Not much he could do about it now…

“Don’t worry. It grows back.”

“Eh…? It … It does?” Yugi gasped. Amu just shrugged. He insisted on finishing his ‘meal’ before being taken inside. Yugi couldn’t watch, so he skated around a little more, disposing the other part of the arm where Amu couldn’t get it. Hmm…. weird, did something just… Tremble… ?

 

Bunk.

Bunk!

BUNK!

 

That did not sound good.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading The Cecaelia! :) Hope you liked it a lot! :D


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